12 September 2014

From the Principal

Dear Parents and Community

NAPLAN

Individual student reports for students in Years 3,5 and 7 who sat the NAPLAN tests in Term Two have been sent home today with the students along with a pamphlet providing information for parents.

Arrival at School

Parents are reminded students should not arrive at or be dropped off at school before 8.30. Although this information was published in the previous newsletter we continue to see the same students arriving before this time. Students who arrive prior to this time need to be using the Camp Australia facilities situated on site. Bookings can be made online by visiting www.campaustralia.com.au and then entering Madeley Primary School in the school finder.

School Playground After School

You may have noticed we have been adding features to our playground areas and while this has been exciting it has also become necessary to remind students and parents that before and after school the same expected behaviours and supervision should be happening.

• Students must be actively supervised by parents ensuring that play is safe and respectful of the equipment.
• Students use the equipment as they are taught during school hours.

We look forward to your support in this matter as we would be disappointed if we had to close the playgrounds after school.

Keeping Our Kids Safe.

A child was involved in a near miss before school on Wednesday morning. A parent was very upset after seeing a child dart out of a car and across the car park in front of a moving car. It is a timely reminder to please make sure you choose a safe place for your children to leave the car and walk to class safely.

Parents need to be positive road safety role models and always:

• Act safely in traffic environments.
• Understand their child’s limitations in traffic situations.
• Supervise their child and actively take a role in developing their child’s road safety skills, attitudes and understanding appropriate to their stage of development.

School children are most at risk - Pedestrian injuries account for 1 in 5 injury deaths for 5-14 year olds. They are second only to car passenger deaths for this age group.

Pedestrian injuries are often severe - Pedestrian injuries can be severe. Head and internal injuries are common among those hospitalised. Because of this, pedestrian injuries are a significant cause of child disability.

Students Not Returning 2015

Please notify the office if your child/ren will not be returning to Madeley Primary School in 2015. This information is required in planning the school structure and classes for next year. We appreciate your assistance with this.

Ministerial Visit to Madeley

The Honourable Peter Collier MLC, Minister for Education and The Honourable Liz Behjat Member for the Northern Metropolitan Region visited our school today. Following morning tea with staff and community members they had a tour of the school. They also visited Mrs Randall’s Kindy class, Miss Shorten’s Year Two class and Mrs Chester’s Year Five class.

Danielle Stitfold
Principal

Important Dates

Assembly Dates Changed

Parents please note there have been two changes in Term 4 to assembly dates. The new dates are as follows:

Please refer to the School Calendar on the sidebar of the Newsletter for regular updates.

Did you know that you can sync the Madeley School calendar to your personal email account and also some mobiles?

To sync and/or to print off the school calendar:

1. Open the Newsletter email
2. Click on the School Calendar link on the sidebar (if viewing on a computer) or on the menu on your mobile (this appears at the top of the first page on your mobile)
3. At the top of the calendar there is a print button where you can print off the monthly calendar and pop this on your fridge
4. Next to the print button there is a sync button, this will allow you to sync the Madeley Calendar to your email programme or mobile
5. Click on the sync button and follow the steps.

The iphone works particularly well, creating event reminders from the school calendar to your phone.

Local Events

Please refer to the flyers at the foot of this newsletter regarding various local events, including Basketball for Juniors at Landsdale PS; Kingsway Indoor Stadium’s School Holiday Programs; Hog’s Breath Fundraiser for Madeley PS etc. Events often have their own flyers incorporated into the advertisement with much more information too.

Nature Playground

On the 6th of September some of the ECE staff and their long suffering partners converged on the school to create a Nature Playground. The first step was to remove all of the grass, which was a great workout thanks to the rain! Then we added the rocks around the perimeter before planting and finally mulching. We would like to say a HUGE thank you to all the people who donated resources and time to help create this beautiful area. A special thanks to our Deputy Jude James and the Native plants of W.A who donated all of the native plants in the garden. This was the only cost involved with building the garden. The resourceful teachers managed to build a fantastic play space on a budget of $25! Stay tuned... as we add more creative and natural resources to this plan!

Unfortunately the extreme wet weather stopped us from painting up a storm on the pavement, but for all those parents who donated paint don't despair, we are going to rectify this matter shortly. We are thinking of painting some games such as rocket hopscotch, four square and a floor dart board (just for Libby to teach throwing.) We are also going to add a couple of targets, an alphabet caterpillar and a number snake. YIKES, no rest for the wicked or, in this case, teachers and their partners.

A little plea...

To help maintain our Nature Playground and to keep the children safe we ask that parents remain vigilant with their supervision during before and after school hours.

Thank you for your support, ECE Staff

Kind Donation by the D’Ambrosio Family

The D’Ambrosio family kindly made and donated a beautiful tree house (similar size to a doll’s house) for the children to play with. Included were a family of owls, a family of bears and even some furniture. The children’s imagination and problem solving skills have been in overload as they have worked out how to connect the tree house and doll house using bridges made up of blocks. It is a welcome and wonderful addition to our school.

RED & BLUE KINDY FARMYARD ON WHEELS INCURSION

The children from Kindy enjoyed a wonderful hour with Farmer Mick and his animals. They heard lots of things about the animals and got to hold a 10 day old chick making their hands into a little house and with an emphasis on gentle!

The children saw and were able to touch chickens, a goose, ducks, rabbits, the cattle dog named Bella, a goat, a pony, an alpaca and they fed lambs and kids their milk bottles. They watched the piglet being fed.

Farmer Mick taught us many interesting facts about each animal as he introduced them to us. We got to hold a chick or duckling as well as feed a lamb or kid. Ms Stitfold even got to feed Peppa Pig! Then Farmer Mick let us walk around and pat the different animals. We had a fantastic time and we didn’t want them to leave!

Year 2 Travels to the Tropical Rainforests of the World

Over the semester this term the Year 2s have been learning about Tropical Rainforests around the world. Our beautiful and majestic rainforests are the richest source of plant and animal life on Earth. They can support trees that grow to incredible heights, which in turn support insects, reptiles, mammals and birds that dwell in, on, around and under the dense vegetation of the forest. This unit has given students an understanding of the physical features of the rainforest. Students have developed an appreciation of the rainforest aesthetically, its abundant resources, and considered conservation issues. Part of the unit included a visit to Perth Zoo, where the students participated in a Rainforest Scavenger hunt.

Highlights from Ms Visser’s Class

Lucas Santich – I really enjoyed learning all about the Jaguar and Goliath bird-eating Spider. I found out that the Jaguar can see 6 times better than a human at night.

Olivia Bowie – I enjoyed comparing the Poison Dart Frog and the Red-eyed Tree Frog.

Chilli Bostwick – I enjoyed learning about the Daintree (Australia) and the Amazon (South America) rainforests. I found out that the animals are different and the size.

Charlotte Ellam – The highlight was the Year 2 assembly item because I enjoyed wearing the beautiful costumes and doing the dancing.

Richard Lien – It made me sad to find out that there are not many tigers left because they their body parts are used for Chinese medicine.

Ally Hastie – I really enjoyed visiting Perth Zoo. The Capuchin monkeys were my favourite animals at the zoo because they were so funny. Every time we put our face near the glass they hit it.

Highlights from Miss Stokoe’s Class

Abbie Vincent – My highlight has been doing our assembly and writing our reports about the Zoo Excursion. I got to see some animals and do a scavenger hunt.

Rhys Annells – I enjoyed having our assembly about rainforests and making our classroom look like a rainforest.

Soul Vlahov – I have learnt about rainforests. I have learnt about birds like the cassowary. The layers of the rainforest are the emergent, canopy, understory and the forest floor.

Anthony Italiano – I liked going to the Zoo because it was fun. I learnt about animals. I learnt that the Reticulated Python is one of the biggest snakes in the world.

Brooklyn Marsiglia – I liked the Zoo. It had lots of animals. I saw a cassowary. He was sitting down and watching Josh, Denver and I.

Highlights from Miss Shorten’s Class

Amelia Rowe – I liked going to the zoo because we got to see lots of different animals. My favourite animal was the orang-utans because we used to be orang-utans a long time about and they had lots of fun games like the rope at the enclosure.

Devan Button – My highlight was the assembly because it was fun. I liked writing the report about the rainforest because I learnt lots and I like writing.

Ryan Simpson – I liked learning about the jaguar because jaguars are my favourite animal in the rainforest. The zoo was great fun and I liked seeing the cassowary because of its colours.

Aliyah Slabolepszy - I loved going to the zoo because I got to see lots of rainforest animals. My favourite is the blue and gold macaw because I like its feathers. I got to do my project on the Macaw and learn lots of cool information.

Faction Carnival

Well done to all students who competed in the faction carnival last week. The carnival is an opportunity to challenge yourself and pursue your personal best. Thank you to all the Madeley staff, parents and P&C for making the carnival a success.

Spirit Shield (biggest team game improvement)

Thunder

Overall Shield

1st Lightning 723
2nd Thunder 607
3rd Cyclone 586
4th Storm 503

Dockers Football Jumper Raffle Winner

The winner of the Dockers Jumper Raffle was drawn at our Faction Athletics Carnival last Thursday and the winner was:

Peter Stawley

A big thank you to all of the families that collected and bought raffle tickets for this school fundraiser. We raised $1235.00 towards expenses for the Year 6/7 Graduation.

Interschool Faction Carnival

Selected students have been notified regarding their participation in the Carnival.

What to Bring:

• Hat, Water Bottle, Students to wear the Madeley School Sports Shirt, Navy Shorts/Skirt
• Recess, Lunch (if no Sausage Sizzle order),

Technology News

What you need to know about Parental Controls

It’s easy to be lulled into a false sense of security and think that if you have parental controls on computers that your children will be protected from all unsuitable content. That’s not the case! The people that design undesirable websites and images have ways to work around parental controls and blocking software. Lately it has been brought to my attention that the pictures on Google Images are copies saved on a Google server and not linked directly to the website. A website may be blocked but the images are still visible on Google Images. There are safer “child-friendly” search engines that have limited options but really it’s important to supervise and educate children about safe internet practices.

For more information look on http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/Parents.aspx

Cyber[smart:]

The internet has become an integral part of our lives. It is a powerful resource, enabling people of all ages to learn and communicate in a myriad of new ways. For children, growing up in a world where the internet has always been available, it is an essential tool. They are the ‘digital natives’ – always surrounded by online technology, and using the internet from an increasingly early age.

Children can use the internet for many reasons. But there are risks. Knowing how to use the internet safely is essential to having a positive online experience. For parents and their children, it is important to know how to apply these skills at home and at school.

Staff at Madeley Primary School encourages all parents to visit http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/Parents.aspx and read the Cybersafety Guide. This guide aims to provide practical advice and information on safe internet use in the home. In learning and applying safe internet skills, and sharing these with your children, can ensure that the whole family enjoys positive internet experiences.

Library Volunteers Needed

After our very successful Book Fair, we have a lot of new books that need to be covered.

If you are able to help us with this task, please come and see us in the Library on Mondays, Tuesdays or Thursdays or give us a call on 9302 3611.

If you would prefer to take books home to cover, we are happy for you to do this as well.

Thankyou
Erna / Susanna
Library Staff

Lost Property

We have a large amount of lost property in the library at the moment. Numerous jackets, drink bottles and lunchboxes. Please remember to label all your children’s uniform items clearly and we will endeavour to return them to their owners.

P&C News

Thank you

The P&C would like to extend a big thank you to Rochelle Kelly for all of her work in organising the faction carnival merchandise and lunches. Thank you also to all of the volunteers who helped with the merchandise stall and the processing of the lunches. The P&C raised almost $900 from this event. The money has been earmarked to be set aside to help purchase permanent soccer goals for the oval.

Interschool Sports Carnival

This year Madeley PS is hosting the Interschool Sports Carnival and the P&C are fundraising with a Sausage Sizzle on the day – Thursday 18th September . Pre-order forms came home this week and were due back by today, Friday 12th September. We thank you again for your support. Please remember the School Canteen will be closed on Thursday 18th September.

Fundraising Officer

The role of Fundraising Officer is still open. It can be an individual role or shared between a couple of people or a group. If you are interested in the role then please contact me to discuss it further at mariesa76@iinet.net.au

Next P&C Meeting

The next P&C meeting is Wednesday 17th September at 7:30pm in the school library. New members always welcome.

Mariesa O’Donnell
P&C Secretary

Uniform Shop News

We are pleased to announce that, due to popular demand, Library Bags are now available for purchase from the uniform shop for $7. We only have a small amount in stock at present however can readily order more as demand requires. If you are interested in purchasing one please let us know so we can order accordingly.

Thank you.
Julie Hewett
Uniform Shop Co-Ordinator

Camp Australia News – Before and After School Care

Download the attached Camp Australia newsletter for more information about recent activities, holiday club and much more.